On the road…again!!!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek

Sometimes I Just Want To Spell It Out

With all the fake news coming out of the White House these days, I sometimes want to drop my self-imposed injunction about writing snarky political editorials.  Writing a folksy blog about travel, pet antics, exotic foods, and amateur sports has been a satisfactory pastime in the early years of my retirement, but all along I have suppressed the nagging feeling of not making the kind of contribution to my countrymen that is within my range of capabilities.  Politics has been a vital national issue that affects all of us on a daily basis, despite the false presumption that once we have cast our ballots, there is nothing we can do about it.  We have to speak out when there is something important to say. To do less is to abdicate our responsibility as citizens.

If the political party in power challenged the deceits and the outright lies that our so-called president foists on us daily, all would be well in my viewpoint about a functioning democracy.  But the dozens and dozens of outright lies coming forth in press briefings and political rallies are too much to bear.  If our elected president doesn’t know the truth about the scheduled military exercises of our Pacific Fleet, currently underway in the Western Pacific near Australia, then maybe he should check with the Pentagon before spreading false information.  We have a right to honesty when it comes to explaining the current circumstances.  If our so-called president won’t do it, maybe it is time to announce that finding out and reporting the truth does not rest solely in the hands of our elected officials and their spokespersons.  Do I have to spell it out?  We can and will get to the truth.  Learning the geographic coordinates of the Pacific Fleet is not rocket science.  As much as the strategic movement of military convoys might be considered as confidential, it is not. Our geopolitical adversaries know exactly where they are; even our own press media proudly show videos of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson steaming purposely through Pacific waters.  Why does our president tell us anything other than the truth about their mission?  Why does he confuse his own supporters about their role?   Why does he insist on making a routine military exercise into a perceived crisis?  Do I have to spell it out?  He doesn’t…he just feels that he has to get personally involved with his new toys.

USS Carl Vinson and support ships

If the Pentagon or our foreign adversaries won’t divulge the latitude and longitude of the USS Carl Vinson and its Battle Group, we civilians can inform ourselves by just zooming in with Google Earth.  It is not rocket science. After you locate the fleet, merely backtrack a day or two and track their direction of travel and decide for yourself.  Of course, the situation may change at any hour, but each and every one of us can establish a timeline that will hold up to scrutiny.  Were they or weren’t they steaming toward the Korean Peninsula?

UPDATE: 20 January 2024

The former guys wants to be president again but he is not doing himself any favors by continuing to lie on a daily basis.  Some day, someone with a press following will just blurt out that we can't believe anything that he says.  It matters greatly that we trust our president and that would start by telling the truth and not just making it up as you go along.